Elon Musk Is Officially No Longer the World’s Richest Person

Move over, Elon Musk, because there’s a new billionaire in town. On Monday, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos surpassed Musk to regain the title of world’s richest person.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, as of March 4, Bezos had acquired a net worth of $200 billion, while Musk’s net worth had fallen to $198 billion. The last time the 60-year-old had reigned as the richest person in the world was early 2021, when he was surpassed by Musk.

Meanwhile, the Tesla CEO had held the top spot since May 2023, when he beat out Bernard Arnault, CEO of LVMH, the world’s largest luxury goods company that owns brands such as brands such as Louis Vuitton, Dior, and Moët & Chandon. The three centibillionaires have been in a heated competition for the title for months, with Arnault currently trailing at a modest $197 billion net worth.

The news comes as Tesla shares dropped more than 7 percent on Monday. Musk has also lost nearly $31 billion in the past year, citing rising competition in the electric vehicle market; not to mention his disastrous $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, now X, in October 2022. As of one year later, the company was reportedly worth less than half of what he paid for it.

Adding to Musk’s, woes, earlier this year a Delaware state court judge struck down a 2018 pay package that helped advance him to be one of the richest people in the world. Bezos’ net worth, on the other hand, has increased by $23 billion over the past year.

However, the Billionaires Index constantly fluctuates depending on market performance, so it’s only a matter of time before a new world’s richest person is crowned. Bezos first held the title in 2017, when he exceeded the net worth of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.